Montpellier two good for Guingamp

Montpellier boosted their hopes of breaking into the top four of the Ligue 1 standings with a 2-0 win against Guingamp on Sunday.Morgan Sanson opened the scoring for the visitors in the second minute before Kevin Berigaud wrapped up the points early in the second half.The win put Montpellier on 42 points, one adrift of fourth-placed Monaco, while Guingamp remained in eighth.Despite their impressive Europa League comeback win over Ukraine giants Dynamo Kiev in midweek, the hosts fell a goal behind inside just two minutes when Sanson was left unopposed 20 yards out and his tidy effort crept just inside Jonas Lossl's post.Guingamp responded well but Claude Beauvue could only shoot straight at Geoffrey Jourdren before a marauding run from Dorian Leveque resulted in a shot just wide of the upright.The muddy conditions were not proving condusive to a decent passing game and it was the visitors who were proving more creative in front of goal as Mathieu Deplange's effort from a tight angle was kept out by Lossl before Berigaud hit a first-time volley just over the bar.Montpellier continued to press and twice went close again before the break as Sanson's long distance range was plucked out of the air by Lossl before Souleymane Camara's looping header was turned away for a corner following Beauvue's delivery.Guingamp began the second-half on the front foot but soon found themselves two goals behind when MHSC added a second on 55 minutes.Anthony Mounier combined with Younousse Sankhare before picking out Berigaud and, despite his miscontrol, the ball find kindly for him to poke beyond Lossl from inside the area.An expected response from the home side failed to materialise and they almost conceded again when Camara got in behind the defence but only some alert goalkeeping prevented the Sengalese striker adding his first of the game.Joris Marveaux was next to go close but his acrobatic scorpion-style kick flew over Lossl's bar as Guingamp appeared to all but throw in the towel.Beauvue did manage to threaten for Guingamp at the 75-minute mark but, after getting beyond marker Bryan Dabo, his driven effort flew just inches over Jourdren's bar before Montpellier were awarded a penalty deep into stoppage time when Sankhare clipped Paul Lasne.Despite Djamel Bakar slamming the spot-kick against the crossbar, though, Guingamp were consigned to their first home defeat in the league since November.